Abstract
Background: Neurobiologic abnormalities in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
are believed to be involved in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD).
Although MDD commonly emerges during childhood and adolescence, to our knowledge,
no prior study has examined the DLPFC in pediatric patients with MDD.
Methods: In this study, choline compounds (Cho), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), and creatine/phosphocreatine
(Cr) were measured in left and right DLPFC using a multislice proton magnetic resonance
spectroscopic imaging sequence with validated phantom replacement methodology in 11
treatment-naı̈ve MDD patients, 10–16 years of age, and 11 case-matched healthy control
subjects.
Results: A significant increase in Cho was observed in left but not right DLPFC in
MDD patients versus control subjects (32.5% higher). No significant differences in
NAA or Cr were observed between case-control pairs.
Conclusions: These results provide new evidence of localized functional neurochemical
marker alterations in left DLPFC in pediatric MDD. Our results must be considered
preliminary, however, given the small sample size.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 8,
2002
Received in revised form:
December 14,
2001
Received:
October 17,
2001
Identification
Copyright
© 2002 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
